NASCAR Cup

Toyota weekly tidbits 2009-08-04

TOYOTA TIDBITS -- August 3 - 9, 2009 Here Are the Headlines: Denny Defeats Field for Pocono Win Busch Looks to Defend Watkins Glen Victory Kyle Ties Nationwide Consecutive Top-Two Finish Streak Ambrose Returns to Site of First NASCAR Win Young ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:35 PM

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TOYOTA TIDBITS -- August 3 - 9,
2009 Here Are the Headlines:

Denny Defeats Field for Pocono Win
Busch Looks to Defend Watkins Glen Victory
Kyle Ties Nationwide Consecutive Top-Two Finish Streak
Ambrose Returns to Site of First NASCAR Win
Young Guns Shine for Toyota in Nashville

HUNGRY HAMLIN: Denny Hamlin scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race of the season in Monday's rain- postponed event at Pocono Raceway. Hamlin led six times for a race-high 91 of 200 laps in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, his third-career win at Pocono and first NSCS win since Martinsville in March 2008 (50 races). Hamlin became the fourth Toyota driver to win a NSCS race in 2009, joining JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, and Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann.

POINTS PACE: With Monday's victory, Hamlin climbed one spot to fifth in the NSCS driver point standings with five races remaining before the 12-car 'Chase' field is set. Toyota drivers Busch (13th), Brian Vickers (14th), Reutimann (16th), Marcos Ambrose (18th) and Logano (19th) are also in the top-20 in points after 21 of 36 races this season.

CAN BUSCH BACK IT UP?: Camry driver Busch is the defending race-winner of this weekend's NSCS event in Watkins Glen, N.Y. In 2008, Busch swept both road course races on the NSCS schedule, winning at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., and then leading 52 of 90 laps on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International (WGI) circuit in upstate New York en route to victory lane. Following Busch to the finish line at Watkins Glen a year ago was former Toyota driver Tony Stewart (second), while Busch's current Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate, Hamlin, crossed the finish line eighth.

HISTORY MAKER: With his runner-up finish to race-winner Brad Keselowski last weekend at Iowa Speedway, Busch tied the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) record for consecutive top-two finishes with nine -- a mark set by Jack Ingram in 1983. In the past nine NNS races, Busch has visited victory lane at Nashville, New Hampshire and St. Louis, and recorded second-place results at Kentucky, Milwaukee, Daytona, Chicagoland, O'Reilly Raceway Park and Iowa. This weekend, as he attempts to establish a new record, Busch will be making his third NNS start at Watkins Glen on Saturday, where he finished second a year ago. A

RETURN TO ROOTS: Current Camry driver Ambrose cut his teeth racing road courses in his native Australia before moving to the U.S. to pursue a NASCAR career. Ambrose's defining moment in stock car racing came at Watkins Glen in 2008, when the 32- year-old racer beat Busch to the Nationwide Series finish line for his first-career NASCAR victory. Ambrose looks to defend his race win from one year ago when he makes his first NNS start of the season for JTG-Daugherty Racing.

YOUNGSTERS SHINE IN 'MUSIC CITY': Four Tundra drivers posted top-10 finishes in last weekend's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Nashville Superspeedway. Brian Scott, still wearing a cast on his broken right wrist, finished second, while Timothy Peters -- who recorded his first career NCWTS pole earlier in the day and led 33 laps -- finished fourth. Tayler Malsam (ninth) and T.J. Bell (10th) also posted top-10 results. The NCWTS returns to action at Bristol Motor Speedway, August 19.

TOYOTA TIME: Toyota has served as the 'official vehicle' of Watkins Glen International since 2005. The Toyota Camry Hybrid pace car, which made its debut at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway in May, will pace the field for the NSCS and NNS events this weekend.

-credit: toyota motorsports

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